“Since the beginning of September, Mr. Biden has held events with nearly every Democratic constituency that would be critical to any White House bid—from women and African-American voters to environmentalists, Latinos and union workers… This weekend, Mr. Biden will deliver the keynote address at the annual dinner of the country’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization, the Human Rights Campaign, and on Saturday, he spoke at a concert focused on combating global poverty that drew thousands of young people.”

That House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) could become the chamber’s next speaker should give everyone pause. Neither he nor the nation will be freed from the passions of the far-right whose incessant revolts and “unrealistic” expectations forced Speaker John Boehner to gleefully choose to spend more time with his family. [...] As I’ve said before, that there have been so many legislative failures should call into question not only McCarthy’s ability to count, but also whether he had Boehner’s best interests at heart.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), “who is quietly locking down support to be the next House speaker, is privately assuring Republicans he’ll take a tougher stand against the White House — and also the Senate GOP leadership,” CNN reports.

“He’s hearing from members angry that the GOP Congress has not advanced the conservative cause more forcefully, and he’s responding with a clear message: He is willing to take a more confrontational stand with the White House and the Senate to achieve the results the party has sought to enact.”

Wall Street Journal: “The most militant House Republicans are expected to be emboldened by Mr. Boehner’s departure, and even less likely to agree to a compromise with Democrats in setting spending levels for the rest of fiscal year 2016.”

Good. Good. Let your hate flow through you.

A new Quinnipiac poll finds 69% of Americans oppose shutting down the government over funding for Planned Parenthood. Just 23% support closing the government over the dispute. Even among Republicans, 56% oppose a shutdown due to Planned Parenthood.

Anybody paying attention can see what’s going on. The alleged D leaders in the General Assembly either aren’t paying attention, or they’re in the bag as well.

Stated simply: Gov. Markell, aided and abetted by his pro-business propagandists, is pursuing a strategy of forcing cuts on the most vulnerable with NO consideration being given to increasing revenues as a means of closing the budget gap.

I thought long and hard about what topic to make my inaugural post on DL about. There were so many choices. Trump, Cruz, education, anything Delaware like the new Financial Review Committee that Markell created, the Pope. I started an education post and then thought to myself, there will be plenty of time for that, I should write about something that’s a hot topic right now and that won’t be around forever, a 15 minutes of fame type subject. I’ve got it! KIM DAVIS. Yes, she’s still “relevant” and her 15 minute BBC (Bigoted Bible-toting Christian) segment is not quite up yet.

I would like to both welcome and introduce Brian Stephan as our newest contributor here at Delaware Liberal. He may be familiar to all of you from his own blog, Those in Favor. He volunteers for the Christina School District on the Citizen’s Budget Oversight Committee and has been writing great pieces on education in Delaware. That is how he came to our attention. I’ll let Brian speak for himself:

Father of three, husband to one. Several years ago I reached the conclusion that I wanted to become involved in public service somehow. I had no idea where to start or what to do so I let the desire cool over the years until October 2013 when my wife happened to mention that the school district we reside in was looking for volunteers to serve on something called their Citizen’s Budget Oversight Committee. I had no idea what that was about, so I found out by showing up to a meeting. Citizen’s Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC) is an all-volunteer team that functions as an extension of the District Board of Education and reviews financial matters relating to the district on behalf of the board. We meet monthly to review district financial reports to ensure they align with expectations and make any and all inquiries relating to the financial operations of the district. Monthly reports are given to the Board of Education summarizing the district’s financial position and CBOC’s support of the financial information provided by the district CFO and the State of Delaware. [...]

Education is the most important service we provide to our children and I’m honored to play a small part in providing that service.

But now Brian is spreading his blogging wings here at Delaware Liberal, and all of us look forward to his first post… which is right now!.

Welcome to the monkeyhouse, America. The prion disease afflicting the Republican party finally has devoured the last vestiges of the Republican party’s higher functions. I had as many problems with Boehner as Speaker as anyone did, but, dammit, he at least believed that the government should keep running. And, as much as the Times wants to believe it, this has nothing to do with the “challenges of divided government,” and everything to do with the fact that the modern Republican party, especially in the House of Representatives, is completely demented.

(By the way, if I were any of the Republican presidential candidates, with the possible exception of Ted Cruz, I’d be terrified by this development. If the House goes completely mad, if there is (as I suspect) a wild and bloody battle over the next Speaker, that’s going to be what the eventual nominee has to deal with every day on the campaign trail.)

In this week’s address, on “National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day,” the President spoke about the importance of preventing and treating substance use disorders.

In his weekly message, filmed at Richey Elementary School, Governor Markell discusses the progress made in Delaware to ensure student safety in public schools through the implementation of comprehensive school safety plans.

Molly Ball addresses the current debate about whether Pope Francis is liberal.

“What makes Francis different is really a matter of which Catholic beliefs he has elevated to the level of communal concerns—public policy—and which he has framed as individual choices. To Francis, sharing wealth and fixing global warming are matters that governments should address, while not committing homosexual acts or having abortions are individual choices he endorses. (As he famously put it: ‘Who am I to judge?’) This is quite different from the American Catholic church, which has poured its political energy into laws banning gay marriage and restricting abortion.”

“Francis is not an American politician, but his perspective on the state’s role in these issues lines up pretty well with that of most American Democrats.”

“Francis aligns more with Democrats than Republicans on other issues: He favors immigration reform, played a major role in the Obama administration’s détente with Cuba, and supports the Iran nuclear deal. No wonder the president and other American liberals are trying to claim him—and conservatives see him as a threat.”

The delayed resignation tells me he plans to pass a clean budget with Democrats in the House and the Democrats and 8 Republican Senators who defected on the Planned Parenthood vote there on Wednesday, and fuck the consequences, since he is resigning.

I suppose a silver lining in this plan is that Maine will learn that its welfare recipients are whites who live next door, and not the Cadillac driving browns they imagine them to be.

The mayor of Lewiston, Maine, has called on the the state legislature to create a public online registry with the names and addresses of those on welfare in the state, as well as how long those individuals have been receiving benefits.

In a Thursday column in the Twin City Times, Mayor Robert Macdonald wrote that “the public has a right to know how its money is being spent.” He said that he would submit a bill to the legislature that would create the registry.

If history is a trusted guide, a Republican will win the White House in 2016. Here is the operative tea leaf – the deficit. Between 2009 and 2013, President Barack Obama successfully eliminated the towering $1.4 trillion deficit legacy of the Bush administration, lowering it to $679 billion. Like Bill Clinton before him, President Obama […]

The message being sent to voters is this: The Republican Party is led by people who are profoundly uncomfortable with the changing (and inevitable) demographic nature of our nation. The GOP is longing to return to the past and is fearful of the future. It is a party that is characterized by resentments and grievances, by distress and dismay, by the belief that America is irredeemably corrupt and past the point of no return. “The American dream is dead,” in the emphatic words of Mr. Trump. This is all quite troubling to those of us who are Republicans and find these attitudes repellant.

Sure, appealing to white voters with a message that things aren’t as good as they used to be — the boiled-down appeal that Trump represents — might work in a Republican primary. But, there is NO mystery or debate that the changing demographic face of the country makes an appeal to the “old ways” an almost-certain electoral loser.

The Musical Chairs continue. The battle is joined. Last week, State Senator Bryan Townsend announced his candidacy after John Carney announced his bid for Governor. Now, we have State Representative Bryon Short announcing his run. His statement:

“Too many politicians in Washington have focused on tearing each other down rather than working together to solve the problems we face. They have failed to address the shrinking middle class, to fortify our workforce in the face of global economic pressure, to reform an education system that prepares our children to be productive citizens, to ensure the promise of a social security system that serves to sustain our nation’s elderly, or to promote basic equality under the law.”

“As a small business owner, I understand that our economy is much different than it once was. And as a husband and father, I understand all too well the struggles facing families and the middle class. I want to stand with people who also face these challenges. People like my two daughters, McKinley and Rowan, who will soon be competing for their first jobs out of college. People who want to provide for their family and their future. And people who just want a level playing field and a fair shot at a long, healthy and productive life.”

“With your voice and your support we can work toward building a future where the middle class thrives again. A future where our education system serves its students. A future where my girls are paid the same as their male counterparts. A future full of promise and opportunity. A future where Washington once again, works for the people.”

In a speech delivered in 2012, Ben Carson said the big bang theory was part of the “fairy tales” pushed by “high-faluting scientists” as a story of creation, BuzzFeed News reports.

He also said he believed the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil. Said Carson: “I personally believe that this theory that Darwin came up with was something that was encouraged by the adversary, and it has become what is scientifically, politically correct. Amazingly, there are a significant number of scientists who do not believe it but they’re afraid to say anything.”

Can we revoke his medical license? If I were a former patient of his, I would be worried about his work on my brain. I mean, either Dr. Ben Carson is the most cynical bastard ever to run for President, since as a neurosurgeon has cannot possibly believe what he is saying, or… he is dumb as fucking shit.

Certain to explode some right wing heads. In the Welcoming Ceremony at the White House, Pope Francis introduced himself as “the son of an immigrant family,” and noting that America “was largely built by such families.” But he focused more on climate issues:

Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation. When it comes to the care of our “common home”, we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about “a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change” (Laudato Si’, 13). Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them. Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies. To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.